23-And-Doesn't-Matter

There are more than enough clichés in the sports world and the literary world when it comes to things ending. You probably know some of them: "all good things come to an end", "nothing lasts forever", and "every ending is a new beginning". As pleasant as those sound, there was a major streak that came to an end tonight in Canada West hockey, and it puts the top-ranked team in the nation in serious jeopardy of missing out on the national championship. As Shel Silverstein once said, there are no happy endings. That holds true in Canada West.

The fifth-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies men's hockey team packed their bags and headed back to Calgary for a date with the top-seeded Calgary Dinos. Saskatchewan was fresh off a slight upset of the Mount Royal Cougars in their quarterfinal series while the Dinos had earned the bye through the quarterfinal round, but the semifinals were going to be a whole new ball of wax as the Huskies met the Calgary Dinos on Thursday night knowing the Dinos had finished their season by winning their previous 23 games.

To say the odds were stacked against the Huskies entering this series wouldn't surprise anyone. What should surprise everyone was the final score in Thursday night's game. The final goal is shown below.
Goals by Connor Hobbs, Jaxan Kaluski, Jared Dmytriw, Shane Collins, and Justin Ball were enough to pace the Huskies to the 5-3 victory over the Dinos, ending their 23-game winning streak. The win certainly didn't come easily as the Dinos had tied the game up at 3-3 at 3:49 in the third period, but the Huskies continued to play their game and capitalize on opportunities when they found them. The end result sees the Huskies holding a 1-0 series lead over the Dinos in their best-of-three series.

Let's give credit where credit is due as the Huskies didn't let this rather impressive statistic move them away from playing their game. Calgary certainly had chances to make it 24-in-a-row, but the Roddy Ross kept pucks from denting twine, the Huskies' defence did a good job in preventing second chances, and the forwards were mindful in their own defensive zone. The Huskies had a plan, and they executed well in shocking the hockey world with their win last night.

The Dinos will look to start another win streak tonight, though, and they have to make sure it's at least a two-game win streak if they want to play at the U SPORTS National Championship in PEI. Being down 1-0 in the series means that the margin for error is small, so the Dinos need to get back to their winning ways tonight and tomorrow, or that 23-game win streak will be nothing more than a footnote in Canada West hockey history.

You can't convince me that Canada West hockey isn't exciting. We've seen fifth seeds defeat fourth seeds. We had a 23-game win streak come to an end. We've seen a team win its first-ever Canada West playoff game. And we've only played one round and one semifinal game. With Saskatchewan winning last night, it's clear that the Canada West banners in both the men's and women's divisions are wide open for anyone to win.

For the first time this season not involving a streak, the Calgary Dinos are in a must-win situation. For a team that was 25-3-0 this season, it's hard to imagine them being in a must-win game for the season to continue, but that's the reality of their situation after seeing their win streak snapped. If the Dinos lose again this weekend, there will be no happy ending at the University of Calgary.

That's the thing about playoff hockey - everyone elevates their games. As the pundits always tell us, we should throw out the regular season statistics because the playoffs are a different beast. The Saskatchewan Huskies showed that last night when they marched into Jurassic Park and took down Dinos and their impressive regular-season win streak. And now it's on the Dinos to win two-straight games or their chances of winning Canada West go extinct.

For one of the Dinos and Huskies, this weekend will be the end of the road. Right now, the pressure is entirely on Calgary, and last night's loss might have been the beginning of the end.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!